Ohio vs. Michigan State

During our bye week/wife week, Ohio is playing against Michigan State. These are our two most important opponents and rivals. I still feel numb after the tire fire in South Bend, and haven't posted in days. What can you say?

However, life goes on, so here are three simple questions:

Who do you want to win: Ohio or Michigan State?

Who do you think will actually win: Ohio or Michigan State?

Who winning benefits Michigan the most: Ohio or MSU?

It is harder for me to answer these questions than usual. I have a certain malaise such that I really don't care right now. More than that, there are many and varied reasons I dislike both of them, and don't care for either to win. The bye week is good for me personally, because I don't want to watch any college football this weekend.

The answer to the questions is the same for me: I want Ohio to win, think they will win, and if they win, it benefits Michigan because Michigan State has a loss against them, affecting who wins our division. I don't think Maxwell will perform any better against Ohio's defense than he did against ND, and I think Braxton Miller may just be good enough to score against Michigan State's defense. I do believe the matchup between Michigan State's defense and Ohio's offense (especially Braxton) is the key to the game.

“Top to bottom Michigan is about excellence, greatness. You have my pledge I will carry forward the excellence of Michigan football." Jim Harbaugh, December 30, 2014

Remember how dumb we all thought Dantonio was when he refused to route for Michigan at the end of the '10 season? We beat OSU that day and MSU goes to the Rose Bowl (with a win of their own).

Pulling for MSU this Saturday is the same thing. OSU is absolutely irrelevant this year when it comes to our bowl/Big Ten title aspirations. If they go 11-0 or 4-7 going into their game with us, who cares. We aren't getting an at-large BCS game this year, so we don't need to care about style points. So, the Rose Bowl is the only thing that matters and we have to get to the Big Ten Title game to get there. The biggest competition in our way is MSU. Every loss they get from now on makes our road to Pasadena that much easier.

"Coach, if you need one yard, I'll get you three yards. If you need five yards, I'll get you three yards." -Leroy Hoard

An objective analysis will lead to rooting for OSU, but being a fan is not about being objective. If you really hate OSU the most then it is near impossible to root for them no matter the circumstance. I happen to hate MSU the most, but I understand where you come from.

I live about a mile away from The Toilet Se... er, Horseshoe. And I can honestly say that a tsunami, missile strike or earthquake at the OSU/MSU game last year would've been an acceptable outcame.

If I still lived in Michigan, I might change my tune but this week I say: Go Sparty. No wait, I can't say that. I'm rooting for Ohio State to score less points. I think Ohio State probably wins because their defense is talented if not great, but the whole conference is so very mediocre this year (including us, to be sure) that they will manage to look very unstellar in doing so.

Former Buckeye Antonio Pittman on being a poster child for compliance: "This osu tattoo stuff is silly. Cats been getting hookups on tatts since back in '01."

In terms of yardage Ohio has the worst defense in the B1G, giving up 394.75 yards/game with 277.25 passing and 117.5 rushing. They're 5th in scoring D giving up 17.3 points/game. They've played four unranked teams with a combined record of 5-9 all at home. Hard to say how this game will go though, seeing as Michigan State can't throw their way out of a wet paper bag. Seems to be strength vs strength with Bell against Ohio's run defense. I say edge Ohio.

It's plain as day to me that OSU is our most important rival. I don't think it's so clear that MSU is our number two rival - opinion on that point seems to be divided 50:50 as to whether that number two spot belongs to Notre Dame or MSU.

As to your question, my suspicion is that OSU will beat MSU, although I'd prefer that OSU lose.

"Of course I care about that stuff. To the point of irrationality. It will always be Michigan first, cancer second." Jim Mandich (RIP)

no. it's definitely a question. Many of us who grew up in Michigan and saw our high school friends goto state, and rub it in our faces for the last four years take the MSU rivalry far more personally than a non-conference game with a team more concerned about keeping an annual stanford and navy game going rather than playing us

up in South Bend, most of my friends go to Notre Dame or are Notre Dame fans. I hate Notre Dame and everything about their football team. Not to mention, every time we win and they lose, we increase our lead in the all time winning percentage column.

I am reminded that paying out-of-state tuition is a much better deal once you factor in that half your high school friends won't be going to State. Growing up, I wasn't aware that MSU was near even Notre Dame in rivalry status. My grandparents view any game in the regular season besides OSU and ND to be just another one of the "little 10."

Your mind is convincing you that MSU is a primary rival because you hate having Michigan lose to MSU. However, this is not because you think it's some great accomplishment that michigan beat them, but rather because you don't want to get grief from MSU fans.

That is not any different from any other second rate Big 10 team that we play every year.

On top of that, State affects our Rose Bowl hopes and it is a big game across a lot of sports. The hate flows from football to basketball to hockey to everything else (moreso than Ohio does, a lot of people would say) pretty easily.

Michigan/ND hockey has been a decent series lately, but does a basketball game "move the needle" more than any other Big East team? How about M/ND in anything else? Seeing State every year in every sport is a big deal, IMO.

"We bring you to Michigan to take care of Michigan; your job is to protect that block M."
-Carol Hutchins

I just got back from South Bend, a campus I've always enjoyed (other than the times we have lost.) Historically, I think you can make the argument that ND is more important as a rival than MSU.

However, Michigan has lost to MSU the last four years, which increases the importance of MSU relative to ND. Also, with ND moving to the ACC, I really am wondering if that will be the end of our long-standing series with them. I think that ND will continue to play USC, Stanford, and Navy. Right now, they only have to play 5 games in the ACC. However, it seems quite possible that the football team will eventually also join the conference. If that happens, it is hard to see how the current games will continue. I'd much rather see Michigan play ND over Michigan playing MSU. I'm pessimistic over whether this actually happens.

“Top to bottom Michigan is about excellence, greatness. You have my pledge I will carry forward the excellence of Michigan football." Jim Harbaugh, December 30, 2014

Yep, it really is as simple as this. Every time someone in our division loses to OSU, that moves us one step closer to getting to the B10 title game ourselves. Consequently, every true Michigan fan should be hoping that MSU loses this one.

For those who may have trouble with this, check out the video of our b-ball team going nuts watching OSU beat Sparty last year to hand us a share of the B10 title.

I'd like to see the baseball style score of 3-2 with Ohio beating Sparty that way. For Michigan's rose bowl hopes this year I want Sparty to lose as often as possible in their next 8 games, and since OSU can't go to the title game, they can go 11-1 for all I care as long as that 1 is to us.

I live in Ohio, so I always root for them to lose, becasue its unbearable around here when they are winning games. That being said, with thier unabillity to play in the post season, I secretly hope they go 11-1 (loss to UM) just to piss all the slappies off and make this bowl banishment mean something. It would feel more satisfying for them to miss a major bowl game rather than a gator bowl or some .com bowl

Polish off the Heisman! Make room on the Mantle! Charles Woodson took it away!